Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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848. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of new apprenticeship registrations, by type, in each of the years 2023 and 2024, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5514/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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In 2024, there were 9,352 registrations across all apprenticeship programmes. This was a record number of registrations and a 7% increase on 2023 which had 8,712 registrations.

The number of new apprenticeship registrations, by type, in each of the years 2023 and 2024, is provided in in tabular form below.

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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849. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of apprenticeship completions, by type, in each of the years 2014 to 2024, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5515/25]

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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850. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of apprenticeship dropouts, by level of completion and by type, in each of the years 2014 to 2024, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5516/25]

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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851. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the average wait time to be admitted to an apprenticeship, by college and by apprenticeship type, in each of the years 2014 to 2024, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5517/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 849, 850 and 851 together. When an employer hires and apprentice, they register the apprentice with the Training Advisor at the education institution in their region. A registration number is then generated and the apprenticeship is deemed to have commenced. There is no admittance process for the apprentice and therefore no wait time to be admitted onto an apprenticeship.

Apprenticeships are national programmes. As far as possible, SOLAS schedule an apprentice's off-the-job training as soon as possible and to the nearest available training location relative to their home location. If a placement is not available near an apprentice’s home location, they will be called to the next nearest available location.

Between 6 and 13 weeks prior to the commencement of the phase, the apprentice and their employer each receive a letter with details of the location to which they have been scheduled. The letters are issued by each Education and Training Board (ETB), based on the scheduling detail provided by SOLAS/the National Apprenticeship Office (NAO).

Apprentices and their employers have a period of 7 working days from the issue date of the letter to confirm their attendance to the ETB. Should an apprentice or employer decline the scheduling offer, their place is allocated to the next available apprentice on the national waiting list. The national waiting list is essential to ensuring an optimum number of apprentices for each intake/class. The apprentice who declines a scheduling offer is returned to the national waiting list for the next scheduling offer. A craft apprentice may decline a scheduled placement up to three times and return to the national waiting list for future scheduling.

It is my Department's priority to ensure that there is sufficient training capacity to meet skills needs and reduce waiting times for apprentices. Significant investments of €67m in Budget 2024 and €77m in Budget 2025 for apprenticeship have led to a 46% increase in craft training capacity since 2023 and a 73% decrease in the number of apprentices waiting six months or longer for Phase 2 off-the-job training, from 5,319 in October 2023 to 1,427 in January 2025.

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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852. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills how he intends on addressing the financial barriers faced by apprentices who are required to travel and work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5518/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Apprentices are employees and all of the 77 available apprenticeships are undertaken under a contract of employment. For the 25 craft apprenticeship programmes, the minimum rates of pay applying under the employment contract are either agreed within the relevant sector, or are set out in legally binding Sectoral Employment Orders recommended by the Labour Court. These minimum rates vary between occupations and sectors but in all cases craft apprenticeship rates are expressed as a proportion of the qualified rate, increasing yearly from 33% of the qualified rate in year one to 90% in year four.

As employees, apprentices who find themselves in difficulty are correspondingly entitled to access general employment supports through the social welfare system.

Periods of off-the-job training for craft apprentices are funded from the National Training Fund with payments of the agreed rate made directly to craft apprentices by the education and training boards during this time.

Where a craft apprentice is travelling out of their home region for periods of off the job training, which may be necessary due to the national nature of the programme, an accommodation allowance is made available to them. Craft apprentices are also entitled to supplementary allowances for travel and meals. Either an accommodation allowance or a travel allowance is payable, but not both.

The Rent A Room Relief Scheme can provide full or part-time students (including apprentices) with accommodation during their college segments of their programme. The scheme permits shorter term residential accommodation including accommodation for full or part-time student and those availing of four day-a-week “digs” accommodation.

As part of Budget 2023, 2024 and 2025 a cost-of-living package for students was announced to include of a once-off reduction of up to 33% in the contribution fee for apprentices attending higher education.

An access and inclusion apprenticeship bursary provides financial support for under-represented groups, including those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, to access apprenticeships.

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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853. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he intends to remove the student contributions of €1,000 for phase 4 and phase 6 faced by many apprentices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5519/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Funding for National Apprenticeship programmes is determined through the annual Estimates process, led by the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform.

As part of Budget 2023, 2024 and 2025 a cost-of-living package for students was announced to include of a once-off reduction of up to 33% in the contribution fee for apprentices. In the academic year of 2024 - 2025 this was at a cost of €4.7 million to service an estimated 14, 000 apprentices.

In September 2024 my Department published the “Funding the Future - An Annual Options Paper on reducing the Cost of Education " outlining the various measures possible to reduce the cost of education. These options were taken into consideration in the context of Budget 2025 discussions.

To inform the Department’s 2024 options paper, an in-person Stakeholder Event was held where students (including apprentices), representatives of the student population, access officers, student service employees and organisations who advocate for underrepresented students in education had an opportunity to outline key areas for consideration in the paper.

Plans are currently underway for engagement to deliver this year’s paper which will again inform the estimates process.

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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854. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he intends to expand trade colleges to reduce waiting times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5520/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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My Department continues to prioritise investing in apprenticeship training capacity to meet strong demand for craft apprentices by employers as a result of our buoyant economy.

Significant investment of €67 million in Budget 2024 and €77 million in Budget 2025 has been allocated to apprenticeship to support growing training capacity.

This investment has enabled a 46% increase in craft training capacity in ETBs from 2023, increasing from 5,600 places in December 2023 to over 8,200 currently.

This substantial expansion in training places has led to a 73% decrease in the number of apprentices waiting six months or longer for Phase 2 off-the-job training, from 5,319 in October 2023 to 1,427 in January 2025.

My Department has asked SOLAS to conduct a review of optimum apprentice training times in order to monitor craft training capacity on an ongoing basis. and to ensure that there is appropriate capacity for current and future skills needs.